One effective CPG marketing technique you can use to gain new customers or get feedback about your products is a CPG product trial. What are some ideal metrics to measure the effectiveness of a CPG product trial? Here is a list of several you can use.
Total Sales
As you run your product trial, you should see a bump in sales shortly after the trial begins. Typically, sales will then slowly drop off over several weeks after the trial is completed. A successful trial will typically increase your sales in this way; if yours does not, you may need to change some of the conditions or try something different in order to increase your sales.
Baseline Sales
A successful trial will lead to increases in baseline sales after the trial is over. For instance, if you typically sell 100 units online per week, but after the completion of a 4-week free trial period, you begin to sell 120 units per week on average, your trial has helped you increase your baseline sales by 20%. This is a positive result and means your trial was successful.
New Customers
The whole point of doing a product trial is to let people experience the product so they become a customer by purchasing it. Tracking how many new customers each trial brings you will show you whether your efforts are working and allow you to make changes if necessary. You want to get the most new customers possible from your trial, so tracking this metric carefully will help you gauge your trial's success.
Number of Referrals
Most product trials emphasize rewards for referring potential new customers to the trial or becoming new customers. Measuring whether you are getting more referrals after a trial can be another way to gauge success, especially if you encouraged or rewarded referrals in some way as part of the trial.
Use of Coupons/Promo Codes
You can do your own testing of the trial by using different promo codes for different offers within the trial. Maybe offer a free item with a qualifying purchase to one segment of your trial and a percentage off to the other. The one redeemed most often will tell you which offer your customers preferred.
Customer Lifetime Value
A trial isn't necessarily intended to increase the customer lifetime value of your overall sales, but it can be an added benefit and is something worth tracking. If your CPG product trials do increase CLV, you will need to adjust your earnings expectations, which could lead to more advertising opportunities and other opportunities for growth.
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Topics cpg